New Delhi: Security forces and the Jammu and Kashmir Police investigating Tuesday’s terror attack in Pahalgam are zeroing in on one suspected militant as a “key executioner”—Adil Hussain Thoker, a resident of Guri village in the Bijbehara subdivision of Anantnag district.
ThePrint had reported earlier in the day when sources in the security establishment had identified two local men—Thoker and Aasif Sheikh of Tral—and their alleged involvement in the attack.
Officers privy to the case confirmed to ThePrint that there were “intelligence inputs” about Thoker’s return to India from Pakistan after nearly 7 years.
Meanwhile, sources in Jammu and Kashmir Police have confirmed that an FIR was filed under section 103 (murder), 109 (attempt to murder), 61 (criminal conspiracy) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS); sections 7 and 27 of the Arms Act; and 16, 18, and 20 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
“…The police station has received information from reliable sources that known terrorists have fired indiscriminately at the tourists who have come for the purpose of sightseeing in the Pahalgam area with automatic weapons obtained from illegal means under the direction of the masters sitting across the border, as a result of which a lot of tourists have been injured,” a police official alleged in the complaint that formed the basis of the FIR.
Sources familiar with the investigation said Thoker had travelled to Pakistan on valid travel documents, as he had no prior criminal record, and there were inputs about his entry back in Kashmir this year.
“He had gone missing in 2018. An enquiry with family suggested he had left home. However, questioning his friends revealed that he was desperate for a passport which subsequently confirmed he had escaped to Pakistan,” an officer told ThePrint.
Sources further said that names of at least two more locals from Anantnag have emerged in connection with the Pahalgam attack, but nothing has been substantiated.
Another officer aware of the case said that the condition of the bodies and eyewitness accounts suggest that attackers had received “training and indoctrination” across the border over a long time.
“So many have been killed and nearly all of them were shot in the head. Only a few suffered abdominal shots. This rampage suggests long training and indoctrination to slaughter so many people, so quickly,” the officer said.
The officer quoted above said the terrorist group behind the attack is likely to release footage from bodycams worn by the attackers. However, they noted that such footage has not typically been used in the past to publicise attacks on civilians.
“This will be unprecedented to the level that terrorists will use bodycam footage of the attack against civilians but the goal of using these will remain the same—to lure potential recruits and attempt to establish their power,” the officer said.
This is an updated version of the report
(Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri)